The proliferation of capable user devices, pervasive communication, and increased bandwidth has provided opportunity for many enhanced services for users. One example is video calling. Once the domain of high-end, dedicated systems from vendors such as POLYCOM®, video calling has become available to the average consumer at a reasonable cost. For example, the Biscotti™ device, available from Biscotti, Inc., provides an inexpensive tool to allow video calling using a high-definition television and an Internet connection. More generally, a class of devices, which have been described as “video calling devices” but are referred to herein as video communication devices (“VCDs”) can be simultaneously connected to a display (such as a television, to name one example) and a source of content (such as a set-top box (“STB”), to name an example) in a pass-through configuration and can have a network connection and/or sensors such as a camera, a microphone, infrared sensors, and/or other suitable sensors. Such devices present a powerful platform for various applications. Examples include, without limitation, video calling, instant messaging, presence detection, status updates, media streaming over the Internet, web content viewing, gaming, and DVR capability. Another example of such value added services is the introduction of online gaming. Rather than playing a game by him- or herself, a user now can play most games in a multiplayer mode, using communication over the Internet or another network.
Enabling such services is a new class of user device, which generally features relatively high-end processing capability (which would have been unthinkable outside supercomputing labs just a few years ago), substantial random access memory, and relatively vast non-transient storage capabilities, including hard drives, solid state drives, and the like. Such user devices can include, without limitation, the VCDs mentioned above, the presence detection devices (“PDD”) described in the Mobile Presence Detection Application, various video game consoles, and the like. Such devices generally have a reliable, and relatively high-speed, connection to the Internet (to enable the value added services) and significant amounts of downtime, in which the processing and other capabilities of the devices are unused.
Additionally, several vendors provide security cameras that are capable of communicating over a network. An example of such a device is the Samsung WiFi Surveillance Camera™ available from Samsung Electronics. Such devices enable a user to remotely monitor a scene via images transmitted over a network.
Existing devices, however, do not allow access to live images or live videos from the camera via the Internet, nor do such devices allow the storage of captured image and/or video data on the Internet for future retrieval. Generally, such devices further require the camera to be connected to a display device and require configuration using an interface on that display device, rather than via the Internet.
Hence, there is a need for solutions that allow for more flexible remote access to video and image capture devices, and/or for more flexible configuration options thereof, as well as for more flexible access to remotely captured video and image data, and some such solutions can employ the powerful user devices already resident in many users' homes.